Friday, 12 December 2014

My club, the Newcastle Legion, is having a resurgence of interest in Necromunda. I tried to find my old figures, but all I could locate was my Scum and Bounty Hunter. I think they've held up OK after almost 20 years.

I did find some old pictures of my Delaque and Ratskin gangs- bound to stir up a bit of nostalgia amongst those of a certain age. I know I sold the Delaque, but I thought I had the Ratskins somewhere, as well as the plastic Goliaths and Orlocks. No luck so far in finding them, but if I do then I'll post some decent pictures.

Friday, 21 November 2014

WwB is three years young now, I think that's a teenager in web years. I'm going to indulge in reflections on the past twelvemonth...

Most played (8 games) has been X-Wing, where I've had a lot of fun with the really really big ships. I've been involved in a Descent campaign, where my dwarf has been an epic tank- a highlight includes hacking down down monsters whilst I'm alight. My Blood Bowl league play was a bit of a disaster, with three losses from three games, deaths, and not as much time to game as I thought. I'll be bowing out of the finals later this month, sadly. I've dipped into quite a few other board, card, and dice games this year as well.

I'm going to use this opportunity to plug The Wargames Website, an up-and-coming forum which is keen to do the right thing. Come and join us, the more the merrier!

Next year, I'm really looking forwards to Imperial Assault, the Star Wars/ Descent game. I'm keen to knock over another Blood Bowl team. And I'd like to keep a few surprises up my sleeves.

Imperial Assault

As I foresaw this time last year, this year WwB has been a lot quieter thanks to work™. This won't let up for a while, sadly. But WwB will continue to spawn posts at semi-random intervals- thanks for joining in!

Friday, 24 October 2014

I got in a game of Sails of Glory recently (for my Sails of Glory review, see here). I took some pics, and have turned them into a narrative. Read on...

The ship-of-the-line hammered the frigates hard, but took some serious crew damage. It was surprisingly close at the end, with the Terpsichore barely holding together, and the Généreaux with only a skeleton crew. The French won out...

I was controlling the Cleopatra, and was swiftly dispatched from the game in a vicious boarding action.

What do you think of this AAR format? Was it easy to follow?

PS: We didn't play with the 'advanced' rules, just the 'standard'. We're playing on the 'official' SoG mat.

Monday, 13 October 2014

Here's how I painted the Free Peoples from The Battle of Five Armies, after prepping them as per my earlier post.

I don't have a step-by-step guide to the characters, but I used the same paints and similar principles, albeit with a little more care and a few more highlights and fancy touches like Thranduil's gemstone.

When dry, pick out the face with flesh, and add a light blue headband. I painted the wrappings on his quiver with the same colour (not shown)

Bard

I painted Bard using the same colours, but in a more 'traditional' style with shading and highlighting. I gave a faint blue wash to his metalwork.Elves and Thranduil

Elven Archers

Pale green to leggings, sleeves

Bright green to the jerkin (it's the same colour I used for the Orcs)

Dark green details. Flesh to the face. Brown to the straps

Gold buckle. Cream hair, bow.

Sepia wash

Elven Spearmen

Flesh to skin. Silver armour and spearpoint

Dark green cloak

Bright green to the overgarment

Gold clasps and helmet detail. Cream spear

Sepia wash

Thranduil

Thranduil was painted with the same greens. I painted his armour gold, then drybrushed it silver. I then painted the greens and washed the figure in sepia. Then I picked out the high points on the cloak and gown with lighter greens as highlights. I indulged myself with the gemstone.

Dwarves, Thorin, & Dáin

Dwarf Regulars

Red to the jerkin

Dark grey to boots, gloves, belt

Metal to the hammer and helm

Gold to the buckle and studs (gloves and jerkin)

Black wash

Dwarf Veterans

Grey rock. Metal to the mail, armour and axe

Red to the gloves, boots, belt and scabbard

Black wash

Gold to the helmet and swordhilt, flesh to the nose

Controlled sepia wash to the gold and nose (optional step)

Thorin

Dáin

Thorin and Dáin were painted with the same colours I used for the other dwarves. I spent a fraction more time on the skin. The weapon hafts and Thorin's beard are dark grey.

Great Eagles

Umber wash

Sandy colour to the face/ head

Yellow to the beak, claws

The Lord of the Eagles

I gave the Lord of the Eagles a black wash after the umber wash, and used cream rather than sand for his head. He stands out a little from his companions, but not much.

Gandalf, Beorn and Bilbo

Gandalf

Gandalf was painted dark grey, had a black wash, and was then built back up with lighter greys to the ridges on his clothes. I painted his beard a light grey, gave it a thin black wash, and picked out a few bits in light grey again. The iconic hat was painted blue-grey and highlighted with a thin pale grey. I'm really happy with his sword, Glamdring. There's a subtle change from a dirty metal to shining silver.

Beorn

Beorn was easy to paint. He was drybrushed all over in cream, then heavily washed in umber and black. I painted the claws black and gave them a thin light grey stripe. The eyes were painted black, with a teeny dot of white.

Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo was painted with dark brown trousers and a khaki shirt, highlighted with a mid-brown and cream respectively. His skin (like Gandalf, Bard, and the dwarf characters) was painted red-brown and then the raised areas picked out with flesh.

That's it! This project only took me a couple of dedicated (but intense) evenings.

Feedback and questions will be gladly answered.

PS- can't help myself:

A thief, two thugs, an assassin, and a maniac. Oooga chuga ooga chuga...